Unplugging

Featured image by frankieleon. Follow the link for more of this artist’s work.

I think it’s time to unplug, to get off the constant input of insanity that is pumped into our digital world through the windows of the computer and the fun-house mirrors of social media. Technology is a funny thing, helping to make our lives easier, bridging the physical gap, and allowing us to connect mind to mind. But this comes with a cost.

Humans function best when they find balance: mind, body, and spirit. Technology has enabled us to become creatures of predominantly mind, but has eroded our ability to think critically. It has given those who have ignored both the body and the spirit a place to use their “power.” within a cocoon of anonymity, surrounded by their community of like-minded believers. Looking at things from any single part of that equation renders poor results, and an unfulfilled life.

Me personally, I have disregarded my balance for far too long, trying so hard to make things work through an ever-shifting mixture of one or two of these. I have mentioned the philosophy of Ua Lava, roughly translated in the book Children of the Mind as “enough already.” It is something that I am trying to accomplish, working on living a life of perfect simplicity. I am nowhere near that, but at least I am aware of it, and taking active steps to correct it.

One of the things I am working on is my relationship to social media and the internet in general. I am more and more of the opinion that the internet is a necessary tool, but not something that I need to devote a ton of my life to. I have far more productive and healthier things to do with my time and energy. In the book, Aimaina Hikari, put his computer in a shed in his backyard, among the garden tools, because that was its proper role. It makes sense.

This isn’t a super long post, but I do think it is important to put this all into perspective. BC (Before COVID) we had many more options and things to devote our time to. And AC (After COVID) we will have some of them back. In the meantime, politics has become the all encompassing thing in our lives. Anxiety and depression have ramped up because our ability to enjoy our lives has become dependent on the government, and this neither is nor should it be the relationship that the people should have with their government.

Unplug where you can. Find something to give your life purpose and structure without the permission of the government. Put politics back into its proper role and seek to resolve disputes without the threat of governmental force. Find that life of perfect simplicity.